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Court-based research: collaborating with the justice system to enhance STI services for vulnerable women in the US http://t.co/3vEaFQVO
The fractal queerness of non-heteronormative migrant #sexworkers in the UK by Nick Mae http://t.co/X7oGFeDI
‘only 31% of the sample of indirect sex workers reported having been engaged in commercial sex in the last 12 months’
Old but good. Violence and Exposure to HIV among #sexworkers in Phnom Penh http://t.co/rkrRGiBa
Someone is Wrong on the Internet: #sex workers’ access to accurate information http://t.co/aMSXhygd
 

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Launch of Luttes XXX: inspirations du mouvement des travailleuses du sexe

A new anthology by Les éditions du Remue-ménage (http://www.editions-rm.ca/) on the sex workers rights movment will be launched in Montreal on November 10th 2011. Co-editied by Maria Nengeh Mensah, Claire Thiboutot and Louise Toupin, this book reproduces and presents the various forms of resistance that have inspired sex workers around the world to mobilize and demand social recognition. Luttes XXX includes 85 texts, a large number of which are available for the first time in French, and more than fifty illustrations. These are grouped into eight sites of resistance: “organizing”, “working”, “feminisms”, “telling our story”, “decriminalization”, “fighting against HIVAIDS”, “migration

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Don’t talk to us about sewing machines: Talk to us about worker’s rights

Sex workers ran a number of exciting and challenging sessions during the AWID Forum in Istanbul. In their interactions with delegates they have been stressing the importance of listening to sex workers and acknowledging sex work as work. There has also been a plea for the silent majority of feminists who support sex workers rights to raise their voices to condemn interventions like anti-trafficking raid and rescues which are often carried out in the name of feminism. One well attended break out session that combined presentations with film clips was ‘Don’t talk to us about sewing machines: Talk to us

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AWID in Istanbul: Linking sex worker rights with feminism and development

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development  Forum will take place in Istanbul in April. It will be an opportunity for women working in international development to come together to  strategize, network, celebrate, and learn from each other. A mix of activists, academics and people from programmes for women will hear presentations and engage in dialogues around this year’s theme which is the impact of economic power on women. This covers issues from negotiating national budgets and changes in labour practice due to the global economic crisis through to women’s economic position in the family. The Forum will be an

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Helen Clark: Remarks at Inaugural meeting of HIV Global Commission

On the Occasion of the Inaugural Meeting of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law Wednesday, 6 October 2010 First of all, a very warm welcome from me to all Commissioners who have been able to attend this inaugural meeting of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law. I would like to express my gratitude to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso for hosting the meeting at his institute in Brazil – a nation which has long been a leader in the global AIDS response. I also thank Michel Sidibé for his commitment to and support of this Commission’s work.

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Monthly sex worker tests are ridiculous, health experts say

Article by Julia Medew in The Age, May 31, 2011. Health Minister David Davis has backed down from a plan for Victorian sex workers to have fewer tests for sexually transmitted infections, prompting sharp criticism from public health experts who say the plan should go ahead. Last week, a Department of Health project officer told a health and sex work conference the government had approved a move from monthly to three-monthly tests for sex workers in the regulated industry from September. Legal sex workers applauded the move, saying monthly testing was unnecessary as they always used protection.But a spokeswoman for Mr

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Call for Papers: Selling Sex in the City

The International Institute of Social History has issued a call for papers for the project, “Selling Sex in the City: Prostitution in World Cities, 1600 to the Present”. These will be discussed at a conference, which will take place in Amsterdam/The Hague, on 14-16 February 2013. The aim of this project is to write a global and comparative history of female prostitution from 1600 to the present. Notwithstanding the large number of national studies on particular aspects of prostitution (e.g. regulation, attitudes or labour market), no international comparison over a significant span of time has been attempted. This project attempts

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PLRI website launched on International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Welcome to the website of the Paulo Longo Research Initiative. We are launching the site on December 17, the Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers in support of sex worker organisations in dozens of countries who are demanding action to stop violence. This day is an opportunity to reflect on why quality research, linked to community action, is urgently needed to protect sex workers from violence and exploitation. We are a group of sex workers, academics and human rights advocates committed to producing knowledge that will improve the human rights, health and well being of women, men and transgenders

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‘In Whose Name? Migration, Sex Work and Trafficking’

A London seminar will explore the relationship between migration, the sex industry and trafficking in the UK by presenting the findings of the ESRC-funded ‘Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry’, led by Dr Nick Mai, Institute for the Study of European Transformations at London Metropolitan University. MONDAY 31 OCTOBER 2011, 3pm to 6pm London Metropolitan University, Libeskind Building, 166-220 Holloway Road London N7 8DB The findings will be presented with other recent and relevant research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London-based x-talk project. The presentation will be followed by a screening of Dr

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Malawi: Case Challenging Mandatory HIV Testing of Sex Workers Filed in High Court

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre and the Centre for the Development of People will be filing a challenge to the mandatory HIV testing of sex workers in Mwanza, Malawi. The applicants, 11 sex workers, were arrested by police while at a local restaurant, taken to a local public hospital, and subjected to an HIV test without their consent. The test results were announced publicly in court by the Magistrate and they were found guilty of spreading venereal disease. The Magistrate ordered those not from Mwanza to leave the locality. The case argues that the actions of the police, hospital personnel

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UNAIDS Advisory Group on HIV and Sex Work

It is an exciting time for sex work policy. Governments, UN agencies and key civil society institutions are beginning to focus on reforming laws and policies that can reduce abuses of sex workers and enable HIV prevention and care programmes to develop and work effectively. The UNAIDS Executive Director has established an advisory group on HIV and sex work  co-chaired by the Global NSWP and UNFPA.  The group includes sex workers from all regions and representatives of all the UNAIDS co-sponsors. Nandinee Bandyopadhyay is representing PLRI on the group. The Advisory Group has set up four working groups to clarify key

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